Double Sided Coin
by Simple Potatoes
Summary: Ignorance is bliss; fate is decided at the flip of a coin. But when the coin lands on its side, and the two worlds collide in the worst way possible, a young pair of Koopa and Goomba need to find where their loyalties lie before it's all too late. Teaming with the brutal mass-murderer of Koopa-kind everywhere, Jay and Simon need to unravel this mystery before the world falls apart.
1. The Koopa and the Red Man

Not much to say here at the top, except for _please enjoy it!_

* * *

 **Life is full of twists and turns.**

 _You serve one cause or another because you think it's right._

 ** _Sometimes it's wrong._**

But isn't that all just a matter of opinion?

 _Think about it._ If somebody just leapt into your home, squashing you like bugs, killing your friends and your family, you'd say they were evil.

 ** _Both the 'good' and the 'evil' are two sides of the same coin._**

Nobody is _truly_ good. Nobody is _truly_ evil. Opinions grow and change with us as we mature.

Someone else on your side may have done something to them, and they are taking it out on you. You did not commit crimes, so this is unfair.

 _Because no matter how good, or how evil, you think you are, there is no such thing._

 **But still, a flipped coin can rarely land on its side. The sides can cross over, and events can happen that can light the spark of war.**

 _Friendships_ are made. _Bonds_ are created. And terrors beyond all seen before can ravage the world.

 **This is an account of what can happen when the coin lands on its side.**

The _truth_ will be uncovered. Sacrifices will be made. And two of the most insignificant creatures to walk the earth find themselves up to their necks in the _other side._

* * *

 **Simple Potatoes Presents…**

 _ **Double Sided Coin  
**_ _A Mario Fanfiction_

* * *

"Great. Just great. Why did the boss send us out here again? It's practically walking into a deathtrap!" moaned a voice from on the ground. Dipping lower, I could see Simon tapping one foot against the ground impatiently.

"Who cares? He gave me wings!" I teased, lowering myself from the sky to stand right next to my best mate. He rolled his eyes and groaned, while I put one arm round his mushroom-y shoulders. "Come on, Si! You know what he said about it! You'd be promoted soon, too, remember?"

"Well, I'm not a Paragoomba yet, so that's out of the window. Besides, if I can't stop the red man, I'm gonna die! He'll be arriving any minute!" That comment reminded me of why we had been positioned here, and gulped. If there was one thing I feared more than the boss' fire, it was the red man. Ever since I was a young Koopa, my parents had told me tales of the evil red man who always interferes with the boss' plans and murders everyone in sight. I had never imagined the boss would position us here, right in his path of destruction.

"Umm… Jay? Earth to Jay, wake up already!" My Goomba friend viciously headbutted me in the gut, knocking me back into reality.

"Thanks, Si… I needed that," I admitted, looking a bit sheepish. But suddenly a loud burst of music erupted throughout the area, and that was all I needed. The red man was here.

"Oh god… oh god oh god oh god…" Simon whimpered, and I tucked my head into my shell. Then, I remembered – wings! I grabbed Si and flapped right up to the tallest warp pipe, peering over the edge. There was the red man –we watched in horror as, with a single leap, he crushed a Goomba flat. I squeezed my eyes shut just as he jumped on a Koopa I'd known particularly well and kicked his shell at blinding speed – killing a few other soldiers with it alone.

At once the survivors fled, up onto pipes, down underground, even flying so high the red man couldn't see. Nothing was left for him. At seeing this behaviour, he stopped, looked around… and sat down.

"What is he doing?!" I hissed. "He's meant to kill us all, but we're out of reach! So he's just _sitting down_?!" Simon breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, if he's sitting down, we can get outta here and tell the boss he left. Or, we can be suicidal and go say hi while he's not being a mass-murdering criminal!" suggested the 'shroom. I sighed.

"For your first idea, the boss would find out immediately and murder us both anyway. As for your second… **_are you CRAZY_**?! Even attempting civilised conversation with such an animal is an idea you would typically only find in a nuthouse! I mean… _talking_ with it? Are you insane?! It probably doesn't even understand us, you idiot!... Hey, where'd you go?"

Si was _jumping off the pipe._ As he took a few steps towards the red man, the fiend leapt to his feet and began assaulting the Goomba, trying to jump fast enough to catch Simon under his shoes. I screamed and followed, heart beating a hundred ticks a second. Tucking my head inside my shell, I rammed him again and again while Si was recovering, then tried to get away… I lifted us both into the sky, circling at a safe distance, then set Simon down on the warp pipe.

" _WHAT THE HELL?!_ I warned you! Don't try and say I didn't! But nooo, you didn't listen! See, that red man down there isn't capable of rational thinking at all! _At all!_ You tried to communicate with a psychotic mass-murderer, Si? What the hell were you thinking?!" I yell with all my strength I had left, flopping down on the pipe top next to my Goomba friend. "…next time, don't be suicidal. It's like you want to die… and I don't want you to die…"

* * *

Mario looked at the winged Koopa and Goomba stood on the pipe, just thinking about everything. The Goomba had come down to see him – he'd tried to crush it. The Koopa leapt to its aid, injuring the plumber's leg in the process. He'd killed their kind for years, trying to help Peach… but if only he could come round to their point of view, and they could come round to his… things could get better for both sides.

* * *

"He's holding his leg… did I hit him there?" I asked excitedly, and Simon nodded yes.

"Just as his foot was coming down, you smacked it out the way so I could get away," he confirmed, eyes wide at the memory.

"B-but this is great news! His leg is injured, maybe broken, and we did it! Now you're bound to get promoted, right! …Si? Come on, we need to tell the boss!"

"No… no we don't," he muttered. "What if we could see the world from his point of view? I mean, he has no way to tell what it's like serving the boss and living in fear of a mass-murderer. And we don't know what it's like to… do what the red man does! We call it murder, and slaughter, and interference, but what if _we're_ the bad guys?" he explained thoughtfully. Typical Simon; he can think in one second more than I've ever thought in my life.

"You know… maybe you're right. I mean, the pink lady doesn't seem to like what the boss does… and then the red man comes killing all of us… maybe we _are_ evil for serving him," I sighed. I never like being thought of as evil. "You're saying we should try again?"

"Yep!" he nodded, smiling wider than I'd ever seen him do before. Grabbing him in my arms and feet I lowered the two of us slowly down from the pipe.

"Why are you risking it again?" I asked, curious.

"His leg's hurt, and he kills by jumping!" That's Simon Logic. Always the smart one. We descended the tall green pipe, down towards the red man, and he looked up. Huh, I never noticed he had a moustache. I trembled, gulped, and put a claw onto Simon's head in fear. But he didn't make any sort of movement towards us; just sat there.

* * *

He could take them out easily. Leap right onto the Koopa and send its shell flying into the Goomba, killing two birds with one stone. Yet with one leg broken (probably in multiple places) he couldn't really do anything. The longing to leap up onto the two was quashed by an intense pain that burned into one leg and rendered him immobile.

Goombas usually came at him purposefully, but this one seemed slightly afraid if not curious. The Koopa, though, was trembling and shaking more than he'd ever seen anyone do in his life. They were scared of him. He was killing their kind to save Peach; they were frightened of him. That was a given. But the two who had approached seemed to have no intention of harming him or taking him to Bowser. This was odd behaviour for beings incapable of rational thinking; who killed without mercy.

But then again, was he incapable of rational thought for slaughtering thousands upon thousands of their people, believing them to be all evil to the core? At least he didn't think so. To him, the Koopas and Goombas were monsters, but he was one to them. Two sides, two points of view. All he needed to know was what life was like from theirs.

* * *

"This red man isn't too scary up close," I thought to myself. "I mean, a moustache? Who has one of those anymore? Should we take him to the boss and get it over with?" I asked Simon, who was watching the many flickering emotions in the red man's eyes.

"…No," he replied firmly. He wasn't normally like this.

"C'mon, man, this isn't like you! Last time you found some Toad you refused to do anything but take it straight to the boss. What's with you today?"

"This 'red man' is no monster!" he yelled, whirling round to face me. Shocked, I took a step back. He breathed out, trying to calm himself, then cleared his throat and looked at the ground in dismay. During this time, I looked in to the monster from the tales' eyes and saw a million feelings; despair, confidence, pain. Remorse filled his eyes, and even though he probably couldn't understand a word that went between the two of us I felt guilty for even considering taking him to the boss. After all, the boss has no mercy, and however intelligent the mass-murderer is the boss would do nothing but kill him instantly. I let out a small cough.

"…Yeah, I suppose he's not too bad," I murmured in a small voice. "Sorry." The red man was not a monster – he was a sentient being who just couldn't see what was on the other side of the Goombas he'd stomped. It was settled. Simon grinned up at me, sensing forgiveness.

"Yeah! Now… where do we hide from the boss?" he asked. I slapped my forehead in frustration; why didn't I think of that?!

"Oh my god… but that's a good question. Where _do_ we hide from the boss?" I replied, sighing.

"I say we don't! I think we should help the red man beat him, and show him what we think of his rules!"

"But _why_ should we betray our noble Koopa ancestors –"

"But why should _you_ betray _your_ noble Koopa ancestors. I'm a Goomba, stupid!"

"Ugh! That's not the point!"

"Well, who do you have left back at the base? Nobody except me!"

"My family were murdered by this man sitting here right now!"

"Well, who cares? They're dead!"

"I should avenge them and hand this guy in right now!"

"If you do I swear to god, I will hunt you down and kill you!"

"Good luck, Mr. 'I'm a Goomba I just walk into people and they die', because this shell's not joking!"

"Bitch!"

"Bastard!"

"Say it again, I dare you!"

"Bastard!"

"You did NOT just go there."

"Oh, I'm sorry, Si, I just went there!"

"Why you –"

He full-on tackled me in my soft underbelly, and all the air was knocked out of my lungs as I doubled over and cringed. Two white wings fluttered down from my back, and I held them up in my hands.

"You… are a horrible person," I told him angrily.

"I know," came the reply.

* * *

The squeals, grunts and barks the two made gave away the fact they were arguing, and there was nothing he could do to get their attention. They might be friends, they might be foes, but whatever. He needed those two. Scraping his hand across the ground, he picked up a small stone and hurled it at the Koopa's shell, who quickly whipped round in annoyance to see him sprawled on the grass. He nudged the Goomba, who was first to approach – however, he did it with caution. He tried to crawl underneath him and lift his entire body, with which he failed. It took the Koopa's efforts to get him into a bush.

Mario rolled over onto his front and dragged himself further in, the sounds of the night louder in the background. A Boo cackled in the distance, and the two 'enemies' talked in their strange tongue. They would probably do something with him in the morning, whether that be taking him to Bowser or simply leaving him to die.

He tried saying hello, but the Koopa tilted his head to the side in confusion. They probably couldn't understand him, either. It was going to be a long night.

"What's he saying?" Simon asked as the raucous calls from the red man's mouth stopped. I shrugged.

"I dunno. Do you think he wants food?" I suggested, and he ran off out the gap in the hedge presumably to find something edible. I sighed and tried to communicate with the red man.

"Do… You… Understand… What… I… Am… Saying?" I said very slowly, and he looked bewildered. How are we gonna communicate like this? My train of thought was interrupted by Simon crashing back into the hedge with a green-spotted egg balanced on his head. At once the red man sat up and grabbed for the egg, trying not to move his legs. As Si handed it over, the red man placed it on his lap and rubbed it to keep it warm.

"…d'you think he wants it cooked, or just warmed?" Simon whispered.

"I'm not sure what he's doing. If he's trying to hatch the thing, red men have a weird-ass way of doing it," I pointed out. Si nodded in agreement, just as the first cracks spread across the egg. I held my breath. Then, I remembered!

* * *

 _"_ _Mummy, tell us about the red man again!" I begged, my siblings curled around me, and we were all waiting for the story. My mother looked down upon us with kind eyes, and told us more about the red man._

 _"_ _Now, children, you know all about the red man now. But you don't know about his monstrous steed," she began. A couple of us held our breath._

 _"_ _Every so often, when the red man finds an egg, he hatches it into a terrifying reptile capable of devouring any Koopa or Goomba in one gulp. Nobody has seen the steed and lived to tell about it… except for your great-great-great-grandfather, the First Koopa. We red-shelled Koopas are the pure, noble-blooded ancestors of the Koopa who once defeated the red man on his steed single handedly, and for that we are above all others." My eyes were wide with wonder._

 _"_ _How did he defeat such a terrible beast, mama?" asked Sam, my youngest brother._

 _"_ _Another time, little ones. Now off to bed with you! Goodnight, and don't let the red man bite!" she laughed with her soothing voice. That was the last time I ever saw her, as the next day she was sent to the red man's path. She never returned._

* * *

"Nononono! Stop it! Don't let it hatch!" I yelled, shoving Si out of the way to grab the cracking egg before the dreaded steed would emerge and kill us all. Too late, however, as a full-fledged dinosaur popped out from the shell. It looked… a little cute to kill things, right? The red man reached up to pet the green dinosaur, but then its eyes locked on _us._

"Jay, it's glaring at us…" muttered Simon, backing slowly away. I did the same, preparing to run, but the chase never came.

"What.. do you want?" asked the beast in his childlike voice. He didn't seem so fierce now… at least until he stuck out his tongue. The tales were true! The red man had a steed who ate everything!

"We only wanted to help!" Simon stuttered, trying to avoid being a dinosaur-sized dinner.

"Why is my friend's leg hurt?! Who did it!?" he roared. I meekly stuck one claw into the air, then dashed away out of the bush. A long, sticky tongue caught me from behind, however, and all went black.

* * *

He had taken his eyes off Yoshi for a split second, and then the Koopa was gone. The one who alerted him was the Goomba, who was jumping up and down to try and reach the dino's mouth.

He yelled at Yoshi to spit it out _right this second_ and, thankfully, he obeyed. The red-shelled Koopa tumbled right out of Yoshi's throat, landing on his belly in the dust, coated in saliva. After a scolding, he explained how the two had dragged him to the bush and the fact that the Goomba fetched his egg.

Then it hit him. Yoshi could speak in both languages, and understood them too. This could be great for him, because if he could get them to tell Yoshi their intentions then he could finally get to the bottom of this whole thing. It was a whole lot to think about. With that, he lay his head back onto Yoshi's flanks and slowly drifted into dreamless sleep.

* * *

Well, I'm not certain that the majority of readers would like this, but if you did please drop me a review or PM! This will be my first multi-chapter story on FF, and I will accept almost any form of criticism about things I've done wrong here. That said, I am Simple Potatoes and thanks for sticking around! Potato out!


	2. Good Samaritans

Well, I'm back already! I'm pretty hyped to get this story up and running, so I hope you enjoy this next chapter. This time, I'm gonna say _please review_ at the top, because I'm pretty sad I've got zero reviews on anything I've written so far. The Mario archive is a pretty desolate, lonely place when you're starting out. Anyway, time to go on with the story!

* * *

 **Ch. 2: Good Samaritans**

* * *

"Sooooo… remind me why we're sleeping in a bush with this evil murderer who just so happens to be injured again? Seriously, we can't be here!" I hissed. "He's alive, and he's found his bloodthirsty dinosaur steed, so therefore the thing can carry him. Our work here is done, he'll be fine!" I hissed, trying to shake the saliva from the inside of my shell. The red man was sleeping, and so was the dinosaur.

"Well, what are our other options?" Simon pressed, and I tried to think of something. We couldn't go back to the boss or we'd be dead, and we could never survive alone in the world. The red man might not be the only foe out there, and for one Koopa and Goomba that's a lot. At least in the boss' castle we had a roof over our heads.

"I guess you're right," I sighed. "The boss would rather deep-fry us in lava than take us back under his roof after what we did." Si grinned.

"Now we're talking! Anyway, you know when the red man screamed at his steed and he spat you out? What if he understands him?" Now _that's_ getting somewhere. He looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Maybe so, and then we could properly communicate. You know, the minute he gets his leg fixed he's probably going to end both our lives, right?"

"Not if we help him!"

I never thought of that. "Well, that's an idea! But I'm sorta tired now, so see you in the morning. Okay?" He nods and leans back against a fallen log. I tuck my head into my (still slightly soggy) shell and try to drift off. His last thought was, 'I wonder what my ancestors would think of me now?'

* * *

 _"_ _Jay, I'm_ _proud of what you did,' called a deep, respectable voice. I looked up at hearing my name and tried to find the source._

 _"_ _Who are you? Why are you proud? What did I do?" I yelled back. If this is a dream, then it could be a thousand different Koopas and I'd never be able to tell._

 _"_ _You defied all the things your mother told you, and you displayed an act of extreme kindness to the most unlikely of people. But I'm not here to congratulate you. I'm here to deliver a warning."_

 _"_ _What is it? And who exactly is this?" I panicked, backing slowly away._

 _"_ _Jay, you have a role to play in what is to come, and it is not standing on the sidelines. The coin has landed on its side." His tone was grave and mysterious._

 _"_ _W-what do you mean by that?" I cried, standing up and glancing around._

 _"_ _Two different sides, two different points of view have crossed over, and your act of kindness is to blame. You and the red man, Simon and the steed will need to work together to tie up the loose ends and repair the broken world." I broke the world?!_

 _"_ _No. No, no, this can't be right. Can it? I'm just a Koopa! An ordinary Koopa, born in the boss' castle, who broke the red man's leg then saved his life! Isn't that what anyone would have done?"_

 _"_ _No, Jay. Any Koopa would have not hesitated to kill him, or bring him to the boss. You and Simon are not like anyone I've ever seen, and I know that if I had crippled him half as badly as they said I did I would still be alive today. But I let him live, and he killed me."_

 _"_ _Wait…_ you're _my great-great-great-whatever grandfather? You… didn't kill the red man?!"_

 _"_ _No. I was like you… I believed he would spare me if I let him live; I struck him once in the stomach, and he sent me flying off the edge. But as he wasn't seen for a long time after, they thought I must have killed the wretch. Sadly, he had a few extra lives back then." I took it all in._

 _"_ _You crippled him ten times worse than I ever did, and you survived almost being eaten by the steed. You are the one who accomplished it all, and you could have handed him in to avenge your family's deaths but you spared him. He never spared a life when he rampaged around the world, but you did. And that's what makes you different. This is your time now, Jay Koopa. Be the one to repair the broken world. Wake up, and live life!"_

* * *

My vision swam into focus as I regained consciousness, still heeding the cryptic message of my ancestor. This was a lot to comprehend. The birds were chirping away in the branches above us, trying to ward off the intruders in their leafy fortress.

I pushed my head and limbs out of my red shell and yawned loudly enough to wake my Goomba companion. He opened his eyes slowly, then all at once, his bushy eyebrows bobbing around as he stretched. The red man was still asleep and, thankfully, so was the dinosaur. He was blowing some rather large bubbles in his sleep, and I looked away.

"Imma go get breakfast," I yawned, "but this time, _no eggs!_ " I picked up my dragging feet and pushed my head out the bush, checking the area. Nobody in sight save for a couple of birds entering and leaving the hedgerow. I sighed with relief and stepped into the open pathway. The sun on my shell felt warm and comforting as I trudged off to find any edibles.

I plucked a few fruits from trees and scraped a Goomba carcass off the ground. I presumed it was what the red man ate. I also grabbed a mushroom or two to bring back with me, then set off back to the section of bush where I left the red man.

A few minutes later, Simon and I were tucking into fruits while the red man went for mushrooms. The carcass sat neglected on the ground until the dinosaur swallowed it whole. His long tongue then proceeded to nick some of our fruit before he lay off us and burped, satisfied. He then shot a wary glance at the pair of us and curled around the red man protectively. I slapped a palm to my forehead.

"Umm… yeah… as we probably made clear, we aren't here to hurt anyone!" Simon piped up, and I shook my head quickly and purposefully.

"Nope! Definitely not! I mean, why would we… ohmygodthatmouthwasaterrifyingexperience," I yelped, backing away. Simon shook his head.

"I don't trust Koopas," he stated simply, turning his back.

"What about me?" Simon grinned hopefully.

"Not you either."

"Anyway…" I gave a slight cough, "we only wanted to help you, and that's why we got the red man-"

"He's not 'red man'!" snarled the dinosaur, interrupting me and causing me to tremble.

"Oh… sorry. We got your friend into the bush and tried to help, then Simon here found your egg, and then you attacked us…"

"Hmm… I think I can live with that for now. The name's Yoshi. Still, I'm keeping a close eye on you two!" he muttered as he trudged away.

"Well, we've sort of succeeded in befriending the steed," I hissed, "but if he isn't the red man, who is he?" Simon shrugged.

"I think he is the red man," he said, "but he has a name. That's why the ste- sorry, Yoshi – was a little mad."

"Should we ask?"

"…I wouldn't risk it."

* * *

The hours slipped quickly by, and Yoshi seemed to be trusting the two a bit more. At midday, he retreated and snuggled down in the dust by Mario's head. Not moving really sucked, and the plumber wasn't enjoying it. He was on his last life, and the mushrooms the Koopa had brought back hadn't been 1-Ups. He sighed and rubbed the sleeping dinosaur's head.

If only he could speak Koopa, he could understand and talk with the mysterious pair who'd saved him. But for now he could only sit and wait. For what, he didn't know, but he was certain the Koopa knew what he was doing.

At least he hoped so.

* * *

"I have no fricking idea what we're doing!" I yelled, awaking Yoshi who frowned. Simon sighed.

"Oh, great. By the way, Mario wants to know what you're thinking of doing, but now I've heard that I'm afraid he'll be a bit disappointed," the dino grumbled before laying his head back down.

"Wait, Mari-whatsit?" Simon blurted, and Yoshi growled.

"Mario! The 'red man' guy you keep talking about like he's some sort of murderer!"

"Umm… he sort of is one."

"He only kills Koopas and Goombas, they're not really important!" he said. I exchanged a glance with Simon.

"…Next time, remember who your audience is," I smirked, "or shut your green scaly mouth!"

Yoshi was taken aback. "I don't really care if you stand up to me, because I can just eat you here and now. After all, I only had a squished Goomba for breakfast, and you guys are seriously getting on my nerves! And do bear in mind that Koopas and Goombas are some of the most insignificant and hated things on the planet," he finished with a smirk. I gasped.

"Now, Yoshi. What makes you so much better than us, eh?" I challenged, frowning dangerously. He grinned and cleared his throat.

"My parents are pure-bred Green Yoshis of Yoshi's Island, descended from the First Green Yoshi. Our species is sentient, and we don't take orders from anyone but true friends," he stated proudly, puffing out his chest a bit. I growled.

"My ancestor was the first Red Koopa and the first Koopa to ever stand up to Mario. You were there, weren't you, Yoshi?" I hissed, looming up closer to his face.

"Oh, that old wretch? He went down without much of a fight. Just as weak as all the others, but with a little more bravery and a lot more suicidal tendencies." That was the final straw. I leapt for the dinosaur's throat, gripping him tightly and not letting go. Simon backed away, and the red man – sorry, Mario – gasped.

"My species is loyal and serves one master. At least that's what they say. My grandfather could have ended Mario's life but he spared it, and that's all the chance you needed to end him. He could have killed you! And I'm going to finish the job he left unfinished!" I yelled murderously, and Yoshi struggled under my grip. Once he was exhausted, I tucked my head fast into my shell and rammed him as hard as I did to break Mario's leg. Yoshi crumpled on the ground and, out of nowhere, eggshell surrounded him. He was an egg again.

I made for the egg to crush it, but Mario grabbed my arm. I thrashed to get free, but he dragged me further and further away… then Simon pushed the egg to him. At once the red mist lifted and I was sat there, breathing heavily, on the dusty floor. I took a look at Mario cradling Yoshi's egg… and blacked out.

* * *

 _"_ _Why did you do it?" asked a voice I knew all too well by now._

 _"_ _He… insulted you. Told me you were a wretch. He killed you, so I killed him! Damn those eggs and curse the name of 1-Up Mushrooms!" I raged, beating my fist against the ground. Dream-like mist swirled up where I whacked the floor._

 _"_ _If somebody insults your heritage, don't make a big deal out of it!" he laughed._

 _"_ _Aren't you mad he said that about you?" I asked quizzically._

 _"_ _No. Because when the red man fought me, he rode the steed and was armed with fireballs terrible. He burnt my red shell to a crisp, and as I crawled away the steed swallowed me whole. I died in his digestive juices, having the life sucked out of my body. But it was the loss of my shell which made me saddest."_

 _"_ _Why the shell?" I questioned. He chuckled._

 _"_ _When I was as young as you were and even before that, I was teased for my red shell. And I know you were teased for yours, weren't you?" he asked. I nodded tensely._

 _"_ _It's the green strip," I sighed. "My brothers and sisters and cousins would laugh at my green strip." I looked sadly at the band of green running across my ordinarily-red shell. "They would say I wasn't a pure-bred. That I wasn't worthy of being called a Red Koopa."_

 _"_ _And that's why we're both different. And there's never anything wrong with being different," he whispered, and something rounded and hard skidded out of the shadows and stopped in front of my nose. It was a Koopa shell, adorned with a bright green strip._

* * *

Muffled sounds and voices, one of them incomprehensible, drifted through the darkness and disrupted my dream. I stirred, shifting around, before opening my eyes to the noises of the other three crammed into the bush – Yoshi was one of them. I seethed in hatred, my blood boiling, but I found I couldn't quite move.

"O-oh hi!" Simon squeaked. "Yeah… Yoshi sort of suggested to Mario that he tied you down. And I'm pretty sure that Mario likes Yoshi an awful lot." I sighed, and the dinosaur grinned smugly.

"Soooo…. I'm tied to the floor until Yoshi says otherwise?" I frowned.

"Yep!" confirmed my friend. It's gonna be a long day.

* * *

 _Three Hours Later_

* * *

"Hey, Jay! Good news! According to Yoshi, Mario says you can come back now!" Finally! The scent of cooked mushrooms has been torturing my nose for the past half an hour, and the rest was just watching them do boring stuff in the bush. I think I fell asleep at some point, too.

"About time!" I grumbled. "You gonna get me outta here or what?"

"Well… Mario can't move, Yoshi refuses to do it because he's a jerk, and I don't have fingers."

If I could move my arms, I would facepalm right now.

* * *

 _Three More Hours Later_

* * *

After Yoshi and Simon had fallen asleep, I and Mario were the only ones left awake. I was definitely getting a friction burn from these surprisingly tough tree roots, and my wrists were sore.

Mario used his remaining functional leg and two arms to heave himself away from where he lay down and towards where I was tied. Grabbing the roots and heaving them out of the ground, he untied the knots and I rubbed my sore wrists frantically to stop the stinging. I shot him a grateful glance, and he smiled. The killer from the fairy-tales wasn't so bad after all.

I sat up and stared off out the gaps in the leaves. A million stars lit up the sky outside, and for once wished I could stay out here forever.

The sound of something dragging through dust caught my attention, and when I turned around the word 'hello' was scrawled across the floor in clumsy letters. This was the same way of writing we used! I replied; 'This is weird'. For some reason he burst out laughing.

* * *

Mario regained his composure and quickly wrote, 'I don't know your name'. After reading it, the Koopa replied.

'My name is Jay'. That's all he wrote. Mario didn't know Koopas had names, but apparently so.

'The Goomba?' he asked.

'Simon'. That was a strange name. He thought back a couple years when he met a drunk Toad outside of a bar named Simon and laughed at the memory. Jay looked confused.

'It's nothing' he wrote, and Jay smiled.

* * *

 _The Morning_

* * *

"Wow, I'm starving… by the way, thanks for cooking mushrooms right next to me while I was tied to the floor. You can thank Mario for getting me out of there, but I didn't get any damn food!" I growled, glaring at Yoshi. He grinned innocently and went back to eating. He'd brought back many different foods, for which I was grateful.

First, he squealed something in Mario's language to him and handed over some mushrooms. Then he gave Simon a few fruits, and finally gulped all the rest down himself.

"H-hey, what about me?" I argued, frowning at my lack of a good meal.

"That's what you get for assaulting me yesterday," he smirked. "Next time I'll eat you."

"But you tied me down for six hours at least! Surely that's punishment enough!" I protested.

"Oh, yeah! Whoops, too late! Dear me, I seem to have eaten it all. Here, have it back!" He proceeded to make a series of retching noises.

"Nononono! No, don't do that! That's gross! I'm going to find my own food!" I gagged, fleeing out the door as fast as I could go.

After a few minutes of wandering and eating whatever I could scavenge, I headed on back. Simon was waiting eagerly by the door.

"Ooh, that was a nice meal. Sure are a lot of good fruits down that way!" I grinned sarcastically, waving an arm casually towards the direction I came from and patting my belly. Actually, I had quite a meagre portion of out-of-date mushrooms, but I didn't tell Yoshi that. My stomach hurt quite a bit after eating those, and my hunger wasn't satisfied. I veered close to Simon's ear and whispered, "I'm never eating those mushrooms again!" He laughed.

"Oh! I did save you some from last night!" he yelped.

"Why the hell didn't you say so?!" I yelled, following him, drooling like a rabid Chomp. He used his foot to dig up a section of the ground and pulled out three mushrooms with his mouth, handing them over. I devoured them like a cannibal, trying not to make a massive fool of myself as well as cramming food down my throat.

"…I take it the mushrooms down that way weren't so good after all?" he squeaked meekly.

I just shook my head and ripped the cap off the third mushroom.

* * *

 _"_ _I think the Chomps have fond something!" cried a Hammer Bro. holding the chains of multiple Chomps._

 _"_ _Well?" asked his companion, a Boomerang Bro._

 _"_ _There's definitely the scent of Koopa here… but it's not their blood…" he began._

 _"_ _Go on?" replied the Boomerang Bro._

 _"_ _Instead there's some sort of red sticky stuff that looks like no blood I've seen before," he continued, "and there's a trail of it into the bush." He looked at his companion._

 _"_ _What else?"_

 _"_ _Well, it appears the Koopa has stuck around. And if that blood belongs to who I think, that Koopa's gonna be in a heck of a lot of trouble." He folded his arms, and the two hammers in each of his hands thudded against the back of his shell._

 _"_ _Wait, so we're gonna hand them in? What's our evidence?"_

 _"_ _This is!" He scooped up a fleck of the red substance from the ground. "We can tell the boss, and he'll punish them for treason."_

 _"_ _This… is the red man's?!"_

 _"_ _I don't know, but it can't be much else."_

* * *

"Ssh! I hear voices!" hissed Simon, and everyone ducked low. If we were discovered, it was bad news for all of us.

"Sounds like Benny and Cam. They're trackers, probably looking for where the red man disappeared!" I replied, still in a whisper. Yoshi was heaving Mario up and onto his back, ready to leave.

As the voices faded into the distance, I poked my head out of the bush. They had gone, and nothing was in sight save for the usual landscape. I beckoned everyone forward, and then we made a break for it.

The sun was low over the serene, hilly landscape, and we moved at a good pace. It was official: we were on the run.

Oh, if only my mother could see me now!

* * *

Here we are! By the way, I actually really like Yoshi. Probably too much. But I just thought if some strange Koopa and Goomba happened to be 'threatening' his friend, he'd act like a bit of a jerk.

Anyway. I'd like to just mention my best friend for helping with this chapter's description and details. She hangs out on the Pokémon archives and, despite the fact I had an account longer than her, she got me into writing fics and not just reading what other people did. Just a thank you, briefly, to **_PokeThatPokemon_** for also mentioning me in her profile!

Well, I'm done here. Thanks a lot, readers! Potato out!


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